Scripture Verse

The Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land. Deuteronomy 15:4

Introduction

Words: Charles T. Brooks, cir­ca 1833 (verses 1–2). These words, writ­ten while Brooks was stu­dy­ing at the Di­vi­ni­ty School in Cam­bridge, Mas­sa­chu­setts, were said to be a trans­la­tion from the Ger­man (at­trib­ut­ed by some sourc­es to an 1815 text by Sieg­fried A. Mahl­mann). They were lat­er re­cast by a num­ber of oth­er au­thors; verse 3 is by Will­iam E. Hick­son (1803–1870).

Music: Am­er­ica The­saur­us Mu­sic­us, 1744 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a bet­ter pho­to of Brooks,

portrait
Charles T. Brooks (1813–1883)

Lyrics

God bless our native land!
Firm may she ever stand
Through storm and night!
When the wild tempests rave,
Ruler of wind and wave,
Father Eternal, save
Us by Thy might!

Lo! our hearts’ prayers arise
Into the upper skies,
Regions of light!
He who hath heard each sigh,
Watches each weeping eye:
He is for­ev­er nigh,
Venger of right.

Not for this land alone,
But be God’s mercies shown
From shore to shore;
And may the nations see
That men should brothers be,
And form one family
The wide world o’er.